Search Weight Loss Topics:

Page 1,983«..1020..1,9821,9831,9841,985..1,9902,000..»

Home » Page 1983

Most Americans want to lose weight , but it's no simple feat. Just ask someone who's done it.

That's exactly what TIME did in a recent cover story looking at new weight loss science . After speaking to people who had successfully lost weight (after failing many times), it became clear that there's no best way to go about it. Instead, evidenceboth scientific and anecdotalshow that it's possible for anyone to reach a healthy weight through a strategy that works best for them.

Here's what worked for five people who lost weight and kept it off.

Ive been overweight my entire life. Id try different diets, lose a few pounds and then gain it back. When I turned 25, I was 485 lb. and I knew I was fighting for my life. I want to have kids one day and be more active with my husband. I wanted to stop sitting on the sidelines of my own life. At the beginning of 2016, I started tracking my calories, working out and making healthier versions of the foods I loved. Ultimately, I fell in love with taking care of myself. My advice is to focus on each day, not how far you have to go. Weight loss is a journey, not a sprint.

Lexi Reed , age 26, lost 278 lb. in 16 months

MORE : 9 Science-Backed Weight Loss Tips

Dont just write down everything you eat. Write down how you feel that day, what is going on in your life and how you feel after eating. After a while, look through your journal for patterns. Chances are youll find some. Im a recovering food addict, and nothing was more freeing than realizing what behaviors or events were triggering my addiction. It wasnt that I had no willpower; my brain was reacting to certain habits that made it hard for my willpower to do its job. Once I removed those patternslike keeping cookies around the housemy willpower muscle could finally flex.

Erika Nicole Kendall , 33, lost 170 lb. over two years

You dont have to eat salad all the time to lose weight. There are so many ways to tweak ingredients and make food you actually love to eateven pancakes. (Try almond flour.) That being said, the type of food you eat also defines your lifestyle. You can eat junk food and lose weight, but you will probably be hungry all the time. So give yourself an occasional cheat day or reward for sticking to your plan. In the end, you want to lose weight in a healthy way, without feeling like youre hurting yourself.

Nivedith Renga , age 26, lost 65 lb. in nine months

"When I graduated college in 2012, I was at my highest weight ever. I was embarrassed about my weight and what I looked like, and I was terrified of being the person in the gym who didn't know what they were doing. I sat in my doctor's office and remember deciding that I was going to do whatever it took, however long it took, to change my life. I tried a variety of different diets that worked, but I felt like I was losing my mind not being able to eat certain foods, and I hated that even though I was 'losing weight', I still had a really disordered relationship with food. Food is supposed to bring joy and happiness.

I decided to give 'macro counting' a whirl. It's similar to calorie counting, but rather than keeping track of your calories, you keep track of the number of grams of protein, fat, and carbs you eat per day. Following this is what ended up giving me the biggest change overall. I felt like I wasn't starving myself or depriving myself to lose weight. You have to find something you can stick to. What works for one person may not work for another. Whatever you choose, it has to be for life."

Kelly Rojek , 27, lost 50 lb. in 18 months

"You have to make slow and steady adjustments, that worked for me. I measured and weighed food to become more aware of portion size. I wrote down what I ate and ate more frequent, smaller meals throughout the day. I try to include protein in each meal to control hunger. I don't deprive myself, and I've gotten rid of 'all or nothing' thinking. People could still look at me and consider me overweight. You have to accept youre never going to be a willowy model, but I am at a very good weight that I can manage."

Jody Jeans, 52, lost 75 lb. over five years.

See the original post:
5 Weight Loss Tips From People Who Have Actually Done It - TIME

Read More..

Dr. Jens Titze discovers the more salt you eat, the hungrier, not thirstier, you become

The salt equation taught to doctors for more than 200 years is not hard to understand.

The body relies on this essential mineral for a variety of functions, including blood pressure and the transmission of nerve impulses. Sodium levels in the blood must be carefully maintained.

If you eat a lot of salt sodium chloride you will become thirsty and drink water, diluting your blood enough to maintain the proper concentration of sodium. Ultimately you will excrete much of the excess salt and water in urine.

The theory is intuitive and simple. And it may be completely wrong.

New studies of Russian cosmonauts, held in isolation to simulate space travel, show that eating more salt made them less thirsty but somehow hungrier. Subsequent experiments found that mice burned more calories when they got more salt, eating 25 percent more just to maintain their weight.

The research, published recently in two dense papers in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, contradicts much of the conventional wisdom about how the body handles salt and suggests that high levels may play a role in weight loss.

The findings have stunned kidney specialists.

This is just very novel and fascinating, said Dr. Melanie Hoenig, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. The work was meticulously done.

Dr. James R. Johnston, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh, marked each unexpected finding in the margins of the two papers. The studies were covered with scribbles by the time he was done.

Really cool, he said, although he added that the findings need to be replicated.

The new studies are the culmination of a decadeslong quest by a determined scientist, Dr. Jens Titze, now a kidney specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the Interdisciplinary Center for Clinical Research in Erlangen, Germany.

In 1991, as a medical student in Berlin, he took a class on human physiology in extreme environments. The professor who taught the course worked with the European space program and presented data from a simulated 28-day mission in which a crew lived in a small capsule.

The main goal was to learn how the crew members would get along. But the scientists also had collected the astronauts urine and other physiological markers.

Titze noticed something puzzling in the crew members data: Their urine volumes went up and down in a seven-day cycle. That contradicted all hed been taught in medical school: There should be no such temporal cycle.

In 1994, the Russian space program decided to do a 135-day simulation of life on the Mir space station. Titze arranged to go to Russia to study urine patterns among the crew members and how these were affected by salt in the diet.

A striking finding emerged: a 28-day rhythm in the amount of sodium the cosmonauts bodies retained that was not linked to the amount of urine they produced. And the sodium rhythms were much more pronounced than the urine patterns.

The sodium levels should have been rising and falling with the volume of urine. Although the study wasnt perfect the crew members sodium intake was not precisely calibrated Titze was convinced something other than fluid intake was influencing sodium stores in the crews bodies.

The conclusion, he realized, was heresy.

In 2006, the Russian space program announced two more simulation studies, one lasting 105 days and the other 520 days. Titze saw a chance to figure out whether his anomalous findings were real.

In the shorter simulation, the cosmonauts ate a diet containing 12 grams of salt daily, followed by 9 grams daily, and then a low-salt diet of 6 grams daily, each for a 28-day period. In the longer mission, the cosmonauts also ate an additional cycle of 12 grams of salt daily.

Like most of us, the cosmonauts liked their salt. Oliver Knickel, 33, a German citizen participating in the program who is now an automotive engineer in Stuttgart, recalled that even the food that supplied 12 grams a day was not salty enough for him.

When the salt level got down to 6 grams, he said, It didnt taste good.

The real shocker came when Titze measured the amount of sodium excreted in the crews urine, the volume of their urine, and the amount of sodium in their blood.

The mysterious patterns in urine volume persisted, but everything seemed to proceed according to the textbooks. When the crew ate more salt, they excreted more salt; the amount of sodium in their blood remained constant, and their urine volume increased.

But then we had a look at fluid intake, and were more than surprised, he said.

Instead of drinking more, the crew were drinking less in the long run when getting more salt. So where was the excreted water coming from?

There was only one way to explain this phenomenon, Titze said. The body most likely had generated or produced water when salt intake was high.

Another puzzle: The crew complained that they were always hungry on the high-salt diet. Titze assured them that they were getting exactly enough food to maintain their weights, and were eating the same amount on the lower-salt diets, when hunger did not seem to be problem.

But urine tests suggested another explanation. The crew members were increasing production of glucocorticoid hormones, which influence both metabolism and immune function.

To get further insight, Titze began a study of mice in the laboratory. Sure enough, the more salt he added to the animals diet, the less water they drank. And he saw why.

The animals were getting water but not by drinking it. The increased levels of glucocorticoid hormones broke down fat and muscle in their own bodies. This freed up water for the body to use.

But that process requires energy, Titze also found, which is why the mice ate 25 percent more food on a high-salt diet. The hormones also may be a cause of the strange long-term fluctuations in urine volume.

Scientists knew that a starving body will burn its own fat and muscle for sustenance. But the realization that something similar happens on a salty diet has come as a revelation.

People do what camels do, noted Dr. Mark Zeidel, a nephrologist at Harvard Medical School who wrote an editorial accompanying Titzes studies. A camel traveling through the desert that has no water to drink gets water instead by breaking down the fat in its hump.

One of the many implications of this finding is that salt may be involved in weight loss. Generally, scientists have assumed that a high-salt diet encourages a greater intake of fluids, which increases weight.

But if balancing a higher salt intake requires the body to break down tissue, it may also increase energy expenditure.

Still, Titze said he would not advise eating a lot of salt to lose weight. If his results are correct, more salt will make you hungrier in the long run, so you would have to be sure you did not eat more food to make up for the extra calories burned.

And, Titze said, high glucocorticoid levels are linked to such conditions as osteoporosis, muscle loss, Type 2 diabetes and other metabolic problems.

But what about liquids? Everyone knows that salty foods make you thirsty. How could it be that a high-salt diet made the cosmonauts less thirsty?

In reality, said Zeidel, people and animals get thirsty because salt-detecting neurons in the mouth stimulate an urge to drink. This kind of thirst may have nothing to do with the bodys actual need for water.

These findings have opened up an array of puzzling questions, experts said.

The work suggests that we really do not understand the effect of sodium chloride on the body, said Hoenig.

These effects may be far more complex and far-reaching than the relatively simple laws that dictate movement of fluid, based on pressures and particles.

She and others have not abandoned their conviction that high-salt diets can raise blood pressure in some people.

But now, Hoenig said, I suspect that when it comes to the adverse effects of high sodium intake, we are right for all the wrong reasons.

Originally posted here:
A new take on salt - Bend Bulletin

Read More..

Like most people, Kevin Hall used to think the reason people get fat is simple.

"Why don't they just eat less and exercise more?" he remembers thinking. Trained as a physicist, the calories-in-vs.-calories-burned equation for weight loss always made sense to him. But then his own research--and the contestants on a smash reality-TV show--proved him wrong.

Hall, a scientist at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), started watching The Biggest Loser a few years ago on the recommendation of a friend. "I saw these folks stepping on scales, and they lost 20 lb. in a week," he says. On the one hand, it tracked with widespread beliefs about weight loss: the workouts were punishing and the diets restrictive, so it stood to reason the men and women on the show would slim down. Still, 20 lb. in a week was a lot. To understand how they were doing it, he decided to study 14 of the contestants for a scientific paper.

Hall quickly learned that in reality-TV-land, a week doesn't always translate into a precise seven days, but no matter: the weight being lost was real, speedy and huge. Over the course of the season, the contestants lost an average of 127 lb. each and about 64% of their body fat. If his study could uncover what was happening in their bodies on a physiological level, he thought, maybe he'd be able to help the staggering 71% of American adults who are overweight.

What he didn't expect to learn was that even when the conditions for weight loss are TV-perfect--with a tough but motivating trainer, telegenic doctors, strict meal plans and killer workouts--the body will, in the long run, fight like hell to get that fat back. Over time, 13 of the 14 contestants Hall studied gained, on average, 66% of the weight they'd lost on the show, and four were heavier than they were before the competition.

That may be depressing enough to make even the most motivated dieter give up. "There's this notion of why bother trying," says Hall. But finding answers to the weight-loss puzzle has never been more critical. The vast majority of American adults are overweight; nearly 40% are clinically obese. And doctors now know that excess body fat dramatically increases the risk of serious health problems, including Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, depression, respiratory problems, major cancers and even fertility problems. A 2017 study found that obesity now drives more early preventable deaths in the U.S. than smoking. This has fueled a weight-loss industry worth $66.3 billion, selling everything from diet pills to meal plans to fancy gym memberships.

It's also fueled a rise in research. Last year the NIH provided an estimated $931 million in funding for obesity research, including Hall's, and that research is giving scientists a new understanding of why dieting is so hard, why keeping the weight off over time is even harder and why the prevailing wisdom about weight loss seems to work only sometimes--for some people.

What scientists are uncovering should bring fresh hope to the 155 million Americans who are overweight, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Leading researchers finally agree, for instance, that exercise, while critical to good health, is not an especially reliable way to keep off body fat over the long term. And the overly simplistic arithmetic of calories in vs. calories out has given way to the more nuanced understanding that it's the composition of a person's diet--rather than how much of it they can burn off working out--that sustains weight loss.

They also know that the best diet for you is very likely not the best diet for your next-door neighbor. Individual responses to different diets--from low fat and vegan to low carb and paleo--vary enormously. "Some people on a diet program lose 60 lb. and keep it off for two years, and other people follow the same program religiously, and they gain 5 lb.," says Frank Sacks, a leading weight-loss researcher and professor of cardiovascular disease prevention at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. "If we can figure out why, the potential to help people will be huge."

Hall, Sacks and other scientists are showing that the key to weight loss appears to be highly personalized rather than trendy diets. And while weight loss will never be easy for anyone, the evidence is mounting that it's possible for anyone to reach a healthy weight--people just need to find their best way there.

Dieting has been an American preoccupation since long before the obesity epidemic took off in the 1980s. In the 1830s, Presbyterian minister Sylvester Graham touted a vegetarian diet that excluded spices, condiments and alcohol. At the turn of the 20th century, it was fashionable to chew food until liquefied, sometimes up to 722 times before swallowing, thanks to the advice of a popular nutrition expert named Horace Fletcher. Lore has it that at about the same time, President William Howard Taft adopted a fairly contemporary plan--low fat, low calorie, with a daily food log--after he got stuck in a White House bathtub.

The concept of the calorie as a unit of energy had been studied and shared in scientific circles throughout Europe for some time, but it wasn't until World War I that calorie counting became de rigueur in the U.S. Amid global food shortages, the American government needed a way to encourage people to cut back on their food intake, so it issued its first ever "scientific diet" for Americans, which had calorie counting at its core.

In the following decades, when being rail-thin became ever more desirable, nearly all dieting advice stressed meals that were low calorie. There was the grapefruit diet of the 1930s (in which people ate half a grapefruit with every meal out of a belief that the fruit contained fat-burning enzymes) and the cabbage-soup diet of the 1950s (a flatulence-inducing plan in which people ate cabbage soup every day for a week alongside low-calorie meals).

The 1960s saw the beginning of the massive commercialization of dieting in the U.S. That's when a New York housewife named Jean Nidetch began hosting friends at her home to talk about their issues with weight and dieting. Nidetch was a self-proclaimed cookie lover who had struggled for years to slim down. Her weekly meetings helped her so much--she lost 72 lb. in about a year--that she ultimately turned those living-room gatherings into a company called Weight Watchers. When it went public in 1968, she and her co-founders became millionaires overnight. Nearly half a century later, Weight Watchers remains one of the most commercially successful diet companies in the world, with 3.6 million active users and $1.2 billion in revenue in 2016.

What most of these diets had in common was an idea that is still popular today: eat fewer calories and you will lose weight. Even the low-fat craze that kicked off in the late 1970s--which was based on the intuitively appealing but incorrect notion that eating fat will make you fat--depended on the calorie-counting model of weight loss. (Since fatty foods are more calorie-dense than, say, plants, logic suggests that if you eat less of them, you will consume fewer calories overall, and then you'll lose weight.)

That's not what happened when people went low fat, though. The diet trend coincided with weight gain. In 1990, adults with obesity made up less than 15% of the U.S. population. By 2010, most states were reporting obesity in 25% or more of their populations. Today that has swelled to 40% of the adult population. For kids and teens, it's 17%.

Research like Hall's is beginning to explain why. As demoralizing as his initial findings were, they weren't altogether surprising: more than 80% of people with obesity who lose weight gain it back. That's because when you lose weight, your resting metabolism (how much energy your body uses when at rest) slows down--possibly an evolutionary holdover from the days when food scarcity was common.

What Hall discovered, however--and what frankly startled him--was that even when the Biggest Loser contestants gained back some of their weight, their resting metabolism didn't speed up along with it. Instead, in a cruel twist, it remained low, burning about 700 fewer calories per day than it did before they started losing weight in the first place. "When people see the slowing metabolism numbers," says Hall, "their eyes bulge like, How is that even possible?"

The contestants lose a massive amount of weight in a relatively short period of time--admittedly not how most doctors recommend you lose weight--but research shows that the same slowing metabolism Hall observed tends to happen to regular Joes too. Most people who lose weight gain back the pounds they lost at a rate of 2 to 4 lb. per year.

For the 2.2 billion people around the world who are overweight, Hall's findings can seem like a formula for failure--and, at the same time, scientific vindication. They show that it's indeed biology, not simply a lack of willpower, that makes it so hard to lose weight. The findings also make it seem as if the body itself will sabotage any effort to keep weight off in the long term.

But a slower metabolism is not the full story. Despite the biological odds, there are many people who succeed in losing weight and keeping it off. Hall has seen it happen more times than he can count. The catch is that some people appear to succeed with almost every diet approach--it just varies from person to person.

"You take a bunch of people and randomly assign them to follow a low-carb diet or a low-fat diet," Hall says. "You follow them for a couple of years, and what you tend to see is that average weight loss is almost no different between the two groups as a whole. But within each group, there are people who are very successful, people who don't lose any weight and people who gain weight."

Understanding what it is about a given diet that works for a given person remains the holy grail of weight-loss science. But experts are getting closer.

For the past 23 years, Rena Wing, a professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University, has run the National Weight Control Registry (NWCR) as a way to track people who successfully lose weight and keep it off. "When we started it, the perspective was that almost no one succeeded at losing weight and keeping it off," says James O. Hill, Wing's collaborator and an obesity researcher at the University of Colorado. "We didn't believe that was the case, but we didn't know for sure because we didn't have the data."

To qualify for initial inclusion in the registry, a person must have lost at least 30 lb. and maintained that weight loss for a year or longer. Today the registry includes more than 10,000 people from across the 50 states with an average weight loss of 66 lb. per person. On average, people on the current list have kept off their weight for more than five years.

The most revealing detail about the registry: everyone on the list has lost significant amounts of weight--but in different ways. About 45% of them say they lost weight following various diets on their own, for instance, and 55% say they used a structured weight-loss program. And most of them had to try more than one diet before the weight loss stuck.

The researchers have identified some similarities among them: 98% of the people in the study say they modified their diet in some way, with most cutting back on how much they ate in a given day. Another through line: 94% increased their physical activity, and the most popular form of exercise was walking.

"There's nothing magical about what they do," says Wing. "Some people emphasize exercise more than others, some follow low-carb diets, and some follow low-fat diets. The one commonality is that they had to make changes in their everyday behaviors."

When asked how they've been able to keep the weight off, the vast majority of people in the study say they eat breakfast every day, weigh themselves at least once a week, watch fewer than 10 hours of television per week and exercise about an hour a day, on average.

The researchers have also looked at their attitudes and behavior. They found that most of them do not consider themselves Type A, dispelling the idea that only obsessive superplanners can stick to a diet. They learned that many successful dieters were self-described morning people. (Other research supports the anecdotal: for some reason, night owls tend to weigh more than larks.) The researchers also noticed that people with long-term weight loss tended to be motivated by something other than a slimmer waist--like a health scare or the desire to live a longer life, to be able to spend more time with loved ones.

The researchers at the NWCR say it's unlikely that the people they study are somehow genetically endowed or blessed with a personality that makes weight loss easy for them. After all, most people in the study say they had failed several times before when they had tried to lose weight. Instead they were highly motivated, and they kept trying different things until they found something that worked for them.

"Losing weight and keeping it off is hard, and if anyone tells you it's easy, run the other way," says Hill. "But it is absolutely possible, and when people do it, their lives are changed for the better." (Hill came under fire in 2015 for his role as president of an obesity think tank funded by Coca-Cola . During his tenure there, the NWCR published one paper with partial funding from Coca-Cola , but the researchers say their study, which Hill was involved in, was not influenced by the soda giant's financial support.)

Hill, Wing and their colleagues agree that perhaps the most encouraging lesson to be gleaned from their registry is the simplest: in a group of 10,000 real-life biggest losers, no two people lost the weight in quite the same way.

The Bariatric Medical Institute in Ottawa is founded on that thinking. When people enroll in its weight-loss program, they all start on the same six-month diet and exercise plan--but they are encouraged to diverge from the program, with the help of a physician, whenever they want, in order to figure out what works best for them. The program takes a whole-person approach to weight loss, which means that behavior, psychology and budget--not just biology--inform each person's plan.

"We have a plan that involves getting enough calories and protein and so forth, but we are not married to it," says Dr. Yoni Freedhoff, an obesity expert and the medical director of the clinic. "We try to understand where people are struggling, and then we adjust. Everyone here is doing things slightly differently."

In most cases, people try a few different plans before they get it right. Jody Jeans, 52, an IT project manager in Ottawa, had been overweight since she was a child. When she came to the clinic in 2007, she was 5 ft. 4 in. tall and weighed 240 lb. Though she had lost weight in her 20s doing Weight Watchers, she gained it back after she lost a job and the stress led her to overeat. Jeans would wake up on a Monday and decide she was starting a diet, or never eating dessert again, only to scrap the plan a couple of days, if not hours, later. "Unless you've had a lot of weight to lose, you don't understand what it's like," she says. "It's overwhelming, and people look at you like it's your fault."

A March 2017 study found that people who internalize weight stigma have a harder time maintaining weight loss. That's why most experts argue that pushing people toward health goals rather than a number on the scale can yield better results. "When you solely focus on weight, you may give up on changes in your life that would have positive benefits," says the NIH's Hall.

It took Jeans five years to lose 75 lb. while on a program at Freedhoff's institute, but by paying attention to portion sizes, writing down all her meals and eating more frequent, smaller meals throughout the day, she's kept the weight off for an additional five years. She credits the slow, steady pace for her success. Though she's never been especially motivated to exercise, she found it helpful to track her food each day, as well as make sure she ate enough filling protein and fiber--without having to rely on bland diet staples like grilled chicken over greens (hold the dressing). "I'm a foodie," Jeans says. "If you told me I had to eat the same things every day, it would be torture."

Natalie Casagrande, 31, was on the same program that Jeans was on, but Freedhoff and his colleagues used a different approach with her. Casagrande's weight had fluctuated throughout her life, and she had attempted dangerous diets like starving herself and exercising constantly for quick weight loss. One time, she even dropped from a size 14 to a size 0 in just a few months. When she signed up for the program, Casagrande weighed 173 lb. At 4 ft. 11 in., that meant she was clinically obese, which means having a body mass index of 30 or more.

Once she started working with the team at the Bariatric Medical Institute, Casagrande also tracked her food, but unlike Jeans, she never enjoyed the process. What she did love was exercise. She found her workouts easy to fit into her schedule, and she found them motivating. By meeting with the clinic's psychologist, she also learned that she had generalized anxiety, which helped explain her bouts of emotional eating.

It took Casagrande three tries over three years before she finally lost substantial weight. During one of her relapse periods, she gained 10 lb. She tweaked her plan to focus more on cooking and managing her mental health and then tried again. Today she weighs 116 lb. and has maintained that weight for about a year. "It takes a lot of trial and error to figure out what works," she says. "Not every day is going to be perfect, but I'm here because I pushed through the bad days."

Freedhoff says learning what variables are most important for each person--be they psychological, logistical, food-based--matters more to him than identifying one diet that works for everyone. "So long as we continue to pigeonhole people into certain diets without considering the individuals, the more likely we are to run into problems," he says. That's why a significant portion of his meetings with patients is spent talking about the person's daily responsibilities, their socioeconomic status, their mental health, their comfort in the kitchen.

"Unfortunately," he says, "that's not the norm. The amount of effort needed to understand your patients is more than many doctors put in."

In an August op-ed published in the journal the Lancet, Freedhoff and Hall jointly called on the scientific community to spend more time figuring out how doctors can help people sustain healthy lifestyles and less on what diet is best for weight loss. "Crowning a diet king because it delivers a clinically meaningless difference in body weight fuels diet hype, not diet help," they write. "It's high time we start helping."

Exactly why weight loss can vary so much for people on the same diet plan still eludes scientists. "It's the biggest open question in the field," says the NIH's Hall. "I wish I knew the answer."

Some speculate it's people's genetics. Over the past several years, researchers have identified nearly 100 genetic markers that appear to be linked to being obese or being overweight, and there's no doubt genes play an important role in how some people break down calories and store fat. But experts estimate that obesity-related genes account for just 3% of the differences between people's sizes--and those same genes that predispose people to weight gain existed 30 years ago, and 100 years ago, suggesting that genes alone cannot explain the rapid rise in obesity.

What's more, a recent study of 9,000 people found that whether a person carried a gene variation associated with weight gain had no influence on his or her ability to lose weight. "We think this is good news," says study author John Mathers, a professor of human nutrition at Newcastle University. "Carrying the high-risk form of the gene makes you more likely to be a bit heavier, but it shouldn't prevent you from losing weight."

Another area that has some scientists excited is the question of how weight gain is linked to chemicals we are exposed to every day--things like the bisphenol A (BPA) found in linings of canned-food containers and cash-register receipts, the flame retardants in sofas and mattresses, the pesticide residues on our food and the phthalates found in plastics and cosmetics. What these chemicals have in common is their ability to mimic human hormones, and some scientists worry they may be wreaking havoc on the delicate endocrine system, driving fat storage.

"The old paradigm was that poor diet and lack of exercise are underpinning obesity, but now we understand that chemical exposures are an important third factor in the origin of the obesity epidemic," says Dr. Leonardo Trasande, an associate professor of pediatrics, environmental medicine and population health at New York University's School of Medicine. "Chemicals can disrupt hormones and metabolism, which can contribute to disease and disability."

Another frontier scientists are exploring is how the microbiome--the trillions of bacteria that live inside and on the surface of the human body--may be influencing how the body metabolizes certain foods. Dr. Eran Elinav and Eran Segal, researchers for the Personalized Nutrition Project at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, believe the variation in diet success may lie in the way people's microbiomes react to different foods.

In a 2015 study, Segal and Elinav gave 800 men and women devices that measured their blood-sugar levels every five minutes for a one-week period. They filled out questionnaires about their health, provided blood and stool samples and had their microbiomes sequenced. They also used a mobile app to record their food intake, sleep and exercise.

They found that blood-sugar levels varied widely among people after they ate, even when they ate the exact same meal. This suggests that umbrella recommendations for how to eat could be meaningless. "It was a major surprise to us," says Segal.

The researchers developed an algorithm for each person in the trial using the data they gathered and found that they could accurately predict a person's blood-sugar response to a given food on the basis of their microbiome. That's why Elinav and Segal believe the next frontier in weight-loss science lies in the gut; they believe their algorithm could ultimately help doctors prescribe highly specific diets for people according to how they respond to different foods.

Unsurprisingly, there are enterprising businesses trying to cash in on this idea. Online supplement companies already hawk personalized probiotic pills, with testimonials from customers claiming they lost weight taking them.

So far, research to support the probiotic-pill approach to weight loss is scant. Ditto the genetic tests that claim to be able to tell you whether you're better off on a low-carb diet or a vegan one.

But as science continues to point toward personalization, there's potential for new weight-loss products to flood the zone, some with more evidence than others.

When people are asked to envision their perfect size, many cite a dream weight loss up to three times as great as what a doctor might recommend. Given how difficult that can be to pull off, it's no surprise so many people give up trying to lose weight altogether. It's telling, if a bit of a downer, that in 2017, when Americans have never been heavier, fewer people than ever say they're trying to lose weight.

But most people do not need to lose quite so much weight to improve their health. Research shows that with just a 10% loss of weight, people will experience noticeable changes in their blood pressure and blood sugar control, lowering their risk for heart disease and Type 2 diabetes--two of the costliest diseases in terms of health care dollars and human life.

For Ottawa's Jody Jeans, recalibrating her expectations is what helped her finally lose weight in a healthy--and sustainable--way. People may look at her and see someone who could still afford to lose a few pounds, she says, but she's proud of her current weight, and she is well within the range of what a good doctor would call healthy.

"You have to accept that you're never going to be a willowy model," she says. "But I am at a very good weight that I can manage."

Go here to see the original:
Weight Loss: Why Your Diet Isn't Working | Time.com - TIME

Read More..

Losing weight is tough, both mentally and physically. New science shows that when the body starts to lose substantial amounts of weight, it fights viciously to gain it back. But despite the biological roadblocks, plenty of people are successful at losing weight and keeping it off over the long term.

But how? As part of its recent exploration of the new science of weight loss , TIME asked 9 weight loss and obesity experts their best advice for people who are trying to lose weight. Here are their top tips for what works when it comes to slimming down.

Avoid all sugary drinks, as they provide 'empty calories' that don't fill you up. The sugar may uniquely act on the liver to produce belly fat.

Dr. Dean Schillinger, chief of the University of California, San Francisco Division of General Internal Medicine

The calorie in, calorie out approach fails, because it disregards how food affects our hormones and metabolism. Pay attention to food quality.

Dr. David S. Ludwig, professor of nutrition at Harvard Medical School

MORE: You Asked: Whats the Best Way to Lose Weight?

The simple message is to eat a healthful diet and to engage in more moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. The challenge is how to actually accomplish that in an environment that seems to push us constantly in the wrong direction.

Dr. Stephen R. Daniels, pediatrician-in-chief at Childrens Hospital Colorado

Aim to achieve and improve health and reach a psychologically 'happy weight,' not an unrealistic 'ideal' weight that may be impossible to reach for most.

Dr. Jaideep Behari, associate professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

People need to have the mindset of someone who is ready and willing to make some permanent changes in the way they live. A number of treatments can create short-term weight loss without a great deal of effort from the person, but they dont allow for long-term weight loss.

Dr. Michael Jensen, obesity researcher at the Mayo Clinic

MORE: 'I Swallowed a Balloon For Weight Loss and Lost 40 Lbs.'

You need a program that satisfies hunger and has good food so it doesnt feel like a diet. Hunger erodes willpower, and thats the reason most diets fail.

Susan B. Roberts, professor of nutrition at Tufts University and founder of iDiet

Make small changes that stick, make changes as a family and keep it positive.

Dr. Stephen Pont, medical director of the childhood obesity center at Dell Children's Medical Center

The culprit is not bad choices by individuals. It is the toxic food environment in which calories are ubiquitous. Until the food environment changes, everyone must become aware of the calories they consume, especially those from beverages, sweets, and other calorie-dense foods.

Dr. Lawrence J. Appel, director of the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology, and Clinical Research at Johns Hopkins University

MORE: If You Want to Lose Weight, Don't Eat Out

A person can eat almost anything they want, but the portion size has to be appropriate. For example, eat dinner on a salad plate rather than a dinner plate to cut the portion size in half.

Melinda L. Irwin, professor of epidemiology at Yale School of Public Health

Here is the original post:
9 Weight Loss Tips From Doctors: Diet and Exercise | Time.com - TIME

Read More..

Women's Health

Tons Of Fast Food Chains Have NutritionistsAnd They're Actually Like Weight-Loss Ninjas Women's Health DO IT AT HOME: Research shows eating a larger midday meal and smaller evening one can help you lose weight, and breakfast options make a satisfying light supper high in protein and whole grains. Try a dinner omelet with salad and whole-wheat toast.

See original here:
Tons Of Fast Food Chains Have NutritionistsAnd They're Actually Like Weight-Loss Ninjas - Women's Health

Read More..

Keri Rabe, a 41-year-oldelementary schoollibrarian in Austin, Texas,used to be a hard-corecalorie counter. Eachday for a year, she loggedeverything she ate,squeezing in caloric spacefor twice-baked potatoesand tater tot casseroles bymaking them with low-fatdairy, believing fat wouldmake her fat. She studiedthe menu before eating outat restaurants, choosing adish by how many caloriesshe had left for the day. "Ithought for sure that wasthe only way to consistentlylose weight," she says. "Ithought Id have to do it forthe rest of my life."

By one measure, it worked; Rabe lost 10 pounds that year. But even though she met her goal, she was frustrated. She hated doing math before and after every meal, and even though she got away with eating low-quality food while losing weight, she still didn'tfeel goodand she wasn'tsatisfied.

So one day, Rabe stopped logging and went searching for a better path, not just to lose weight but to keep it off. "I was looking for a way I could eat for the rest of my life," she says.

Rabe was about to learn what experts are now discovering: The quality of calories is what matters most for staying healthy, losing weight, and maintaining those results.

"When you eat the right quality and balance of foods, your body can do the rest on its own," says David Ludwig, MD, an endocrinologist, researcher, and professor at Harvard Medical School, who wrote the 2016 weight-loss book Always Hungry? "You dont have to count calories or go by the numbers."

RELATED: 11 Ways to Boost Your Metabolism

The problem with foods that make people fat isnt that they have too many calories, says Dr. Ludwig. Its that they cause a cascade of reactions in the body that promote fat storage and make people overeat. Processed carbohydratesfoods like chips, soda, crackers, and even white ricedigest quickly into sugar and increase levels of the hormone insulin.

"Insulin is like Miracle-Gro for your fat cells," explains Dr. Ludwig. It directs cells to snap up calories in the blood and store them as fat, leaving the body feeling hungry in a hurry. This is why its so easy to devour a big bag of chips and still feel famished.

Repeat this cycle too many times and your metabolism will start working against you. Whats more, "when humans try to reduce their calorie balance, the body fights back," says Dr. Ludwig. This happens in two ways: Metabolism slows in order to keep calories around longer, and you begin to feel hungrier. "This combination of rising hunger and slowing metabolism is a battle that were destined to lose over the long term," he adds. In a dramatic study last year, researchers followed 14 contestants who had all lost big (most about 100 pounds) on The Biggest Loser, and they found this to be the case. Within six years, all but one of them had regained much or all of the weight they had lost because their metabolism stalled and their levels of the hunger-regulating hormone leptin plummeted.

The best way to break this fattening cycle is to replace processed carbs with healthy fats, argues Dr. Ludwig: "Fats dont raise insulin at all, so they can be a key ally for weight loss."

That idea, of course, contradicts decades of dietary advice. Americans have long been warned about the dangers of fat, since the nutrient contains more than twice as many calories as carbohydrates and proteins. By the math alone, replacing fat with carbs seems like a good ideabut its not. Studies have shown that people on a low-fat diet tend to lose less weight than people on a low-carbohydrate diet.

In another twist, eating healthy fatsthe types that actually support the heart, like the omega-3s in tuna and the monounsaturated fat in olive oildoes not seem to cause weight gain. A trial published last year in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology showed that people who followed a Mediterranean diet rich in vegetables and fat for five years lost more weight than those who were told to eat low-fat. A related study showed that folks who followed a high-fat diet reduced their risk of cardiovascular disease by about 30 percent, while those instructed to eat a low-fat diet did not.

"After hearing for 40 years how eating fat makes you fat and how we have to count calories to control our weight, people are afraid of foods that humans have enjoyed and viewed as healthy for hundreds of years, like olive oil, nuts, avocado, fatty fish, even dark chocolate," says Dr. Ludwig. "These foods are among the most healthful foods in existence, even though they are loaded with calories."

Real, natural foods with fiber, protein, and fat are so satisfying, youll naturally eat less of them, the new thinking goes. "If the meal contains all three, then the food will move more slowly through the GI tract," says Mira Ilic, a clinical dietitian at Cleveland Clinic. When a food takes its time passing through the body, you feel fuller longer.

Instead of choosing a meal based on calories, Ilic advises picking foods from all three categories: one high in fiber, like a vegetable or whole grain; a protein source (think: chicken or salmon); and a healthy fat, like a salad with olive oil and chopped avocado.

RELATED: 20 Little Ways to Drop the Pounds and Keep Them Off

But its still possible to overdo it, even on healthy foods. The biggest temptations are typically peanut butter and almond butterwhen you eat them by the spoonfuland whole avocados, says Ilic. She likes the "healthy plate" method of foolproof portion control: assembling half a plate of nonstarchy vegetables, which are automatically healthy; a quarter plate of protein; and a quarter plate of quality carbs, like whole grains or legumes. Foods with healthy fats will pop up in the protein and carb parts of the plate, and if you stick to that formula, youll be less likely to overeat them. After creating so well-rounded a meal, youll find it easier to keep the amount of good fat you add to it in check.

Another way to guard against overeating healthy-but-rich foods is to slow down at the table. "A lot of people are eating way too fast," says Ilic. "It takes a minimum of 20 minutes for the brain to pick up on satiety, the fullness of the stomach, and you miss the cue of being full if youre eating too quickly."

RELATED: Sneaky Things That Make You Eat More (Even When You're Not Hungry)

Recent research found that when people did a short mindfulness exercise called a body scan meditationin which you take stock of how you feel insidethey were better able to pick up on internal cues that signal hunger and fullness. People who are more mindful have also been shown to experience fewer weight fluctuations over time.

Even though eating quality calories will help you crave treats less, theres still room for the occasional indulgence. Dr. Ludwig is a fan of dark chocolate, which has heart, brain, and satiety benefits. If that doesnt do it for you, you can keep the occasional cookie in the mix. After cleaning the metabolic slate and lowering their insulin, people may be able to enjoy pastries, pasta, etcetera in moderation, says Dr. Ludwig. If you miss these foods, he recommends experimenting to see what you can handle before cravings are triggered. "For others whose metabolism doesnt tolerate that as much, the benefits of being in control of hunger and not having to fight cravings will be much greater than the fleeting pleasures of those processed carbohydrates."

As for Rabe, she ended her year of dodging calories by embarking on a new one in which she embraced fat and reduced sugar. She lost about as much weight while gaining leanness, strength, and a steadier stream of energy.

"I feel so much freer to not be restricted and obsessed over calories," she says. "Ive made some really major changes in the quality of my diet, and I feel I can sustain them."

Best of all, ditching the meal math renewed her love for food, so much so that she started her own cooking blog.

Rabe says shell never go back to counting calories. "Im internally motivated to eat the way I do, because I enjoy it," she says. "I like the way I feel now."

See original here:
Want to Lose Weight? You Should Stop Counting Calories - Health.com

Read More..

In 2008, at only 17 years old, Lindsay Green* decided the only way shed get her weight down was through surgery.

At the time, Green was 6 feet tall and 215 pounds overweight, by medical standards, but not obese. Still, she heard about the laparoscopic gastric band operation, one of several common weight loss surgeries, on the radio in Phoenix, Arizona, and was intrigued. I was a young person and pretty susceptible, she said. All I wanted was to lose weight.

After the $16,000 operation, her weight slowly dropped to a normal BMI of about 180 pounds. But she now had an eating disorder to contend with. The band made eating painful; shed often feel like someone was screwing her rib cage closed after meals. To relieve the pressure, shed vomit.

I thought if Im going to throw up no matter what, I might as well eat what I want, and eat as much as I want, Green, whos now a corporate wellness worker, said. Shed often opt for bags of Goldfish crackers or bowls of cereal; they hurt less than vegetables with fiber, like broccoli. Thats the opposite of what youd hope of trying to create someone with healthy eating habits, she added.

After going into the doctors office to get her band adjusted four times, Green finally had the device taken out last year. Her weight has settled at around 205 pounds. Shes relieved she no longer has the band inside her.

Greens story, it turns out, is more the rule than the exception. As the obesity epidemic has surged across America, more and more people with weight struggles are turning to weight loss, or bariatric, surgeries as a treatment. But ever since the lap band entered the mix in 2001, its gone from being one of the most common bariatric surgeries to the least. Mounting, longer-term research has emerged showing that lap bands too often lead to medical complications and that theyre inferior to other obesity surgeries when it comes to weight loss.

Still, of the nearly 200,000 weight loss operations each year, some 11,000 of them still involve gastric bands. Researchers are increasingly arguing thats too many.

First, a quick primer on the three major types of weight loss surgery:

When the lap band operation was first approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2001, it was met with a lot of hype: The device seemed like a non-invasive option for weight loss surgery that could be adjusted or removed at the patients behest. Unlike the gastric bypass or sleeve operations, it didnt involve cutting the stomach or rerouting the intestines and it could be reversed (which helps explain the bands enduring, albeit more limited, appeal).

It looked like it was going to be great, said University of North Dakota School of Medicine obesity researcher Jim Mitchell. Nobody expected it was going to be problematic.

That ease and perception of relative safety is part of what drew Green to the procedure, she said a quick fix for a difficult problem.

But over the years, obesity researchers have been learning that the lap band is anything but: Its now clear that a large number of patients suffer medical complications and require additional surgeries after their initial operation. Thats one of the reasons you need long-term outcome data [in medicine], Mitchell said.

In the best study we have on just how problematic lap band surgeries can be, published in JAMA in May, researchers from the University of Michigan looked at 16 years of Medicare data to see how common re-operations were after the first lap band procedure. These involved everything from removing the band to replacing it, fixing it, or following the initial procedure with another weight loss operation (i.e., the gastric bypass). They found 20 percent or one in five of the 25,000 lap band patients needed an additional procedure. Thats much higher than the 3 to 9 percent re-operation rate for the gastric bypass and gastric sleeve surgeries.

Between 2006 and 2013, Medicare paid $470 million for these procedures. Whats more, the average number of procedures per lap band patient was a staggering 3.8.

Because the band doesnt cause any physiological or hormonal changes like other bariatric surgeries, patients often struggle with weight loss afterward. They feel the same hunger sensations they did before the surgery, but they cant eat the same amount of food. So they find ways to compensate like Green throwing up after eating. Other doctors told me theyve seen patients who routinely drink milkshakes, eat mashed potatoes, or soften their biscuits with gravy so theyll go down more easily.

In this 2016 JAMA study, looking at the four-year weight change in veterans who underwent weight loss surgery, the bypass patients lost 27 percent of their original bodyweight, the gastric sleeve patients lost 17 percent, and band patients lost only 10 percent. This systematic review pooled together the results of many studies on different weight loss operations, and also found the same trend: Band patients fared the worst when it came to weight loss, and gastric bypass patients the best.

If I were a patient, the University of Michigans Andrew Ibrahim, who studied the re-operation rate of the lap band operation, told me, and those were the numbers presented to me, I would have a hard time accepting that risk [with lap band operations] when there are two other alternatives that we know well can be done.

Thats why some doctors dont refer patients to lap bands anymore. I would never recommend it, said Yoni Freedhoff, an obesity doctor based in Ottawa. I wouldnt wish one on my worst enemy.

Fewer and fewer patients are asking for the device, and fewer and fewer doctors are performing the lap band procedure these days. But despite the concerns about the safety and effectiveness, the lap band still accounts for about 6 percent of all weight loss operations: 11,000 of these devices were implanted in patients in 2015, according to the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.

Thats still too many, Freedhoff says. He noted that the single-payer health system in Ontario, Canada, doesnt cover the band procedure though it funds other bariatric operations and he thinks other payers could move in that direction. (The authors of the May JAMA paper on the lap bands rate of re-operations, including Ibrahim, also concluded that insurers should consider discontinuing coverage for the lap band.)

But as long as there are patients who will pay, doctors will probably keep doing them, Freedhoff said.

Green wishes more people contemplating the lap band were aware of its risks and downsides. She had wanted to remove her band for several years, but had to wait for insurance coverage that could help foot the $5,000 bill for the operation.

Today shes worried that the heartburn medications she was using to counterbalance the effects of throwing up may have an effect on her bone density. Shes also worried about whether all those years of being sick and not getting the nutrients her body needed will carry long-term health consequences.

Im still settling back in to a normal body, she said, that doesnt have a weird plastic contraption in there fouling everything up.

*Lindsays name was changed because she was concerned about her professional image.

See the rest here:
The lap band for weight loss is a tale of medicine gone wrong - Vox

Read More..

May 25, 2017 01:00 ET | Source: Diet Doc

Jackson, MS, May 25, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Jackson, MS - A fast metabolism, one that accelerates fat burning is the key to staying slim. With a fast metabolism, its easier for the body to burn consumed calories. People with sluggish metabolisms find it difficult to maintain or lose weight, while those with healthy metabolisms seem as though they can eat anything they like without having to worry about packing on extra pounds. A faster metabolism can be acquired through diet and exercise, but it isnt always easy. Fortunately, Diet Docs medical weight loss team has created MetaboDoc, a prescription formula to make the body more efficient at burning calories and rapidly boost the metabolism.

A fast metabolism, based on our definition at Diet Doc, is when the same number of calories being are burned as are being consumed. Many people turn to caloric deficits to lose pounds but unfortunately, reducing calories, as is done in many traditional diet plans, the metabolism tends to slow down to compensate, rather than speeding up. In essence, sudden caloric deficits can be harmful to metabolic function, since the body attempts to store energy (fat) rather than burn it off when fewer calories are consumed. MetaboDoc counteracts this by keeping your metabolism at its optimal level, while allowing a reduce in caloric intake for fantastic weight loss results.

MetaboDoc is the best metabolism boosting supplement to ensure that your metabolism will stay efficient even as you reduce consumption. Diet Docs in-house doctors have formulated each ingredient in MetaboDoc to help patients lose weight without drastic changes in diet. Diet Docs clients find MetaboDoc to be the simplest weight loss aid available, and it is just one of the many that the telemedicine company offers as part of their customized weight loss programs.

Diet Doc offers a team of doctors, nurses, nutritionists and motivational coaches, Diet Doc products and individualized coaching help individuals lose weight fast and keep it off. Existing patients are losing up to 20 pounds per month safely and effectively. New patients can get started immediately, with materials shipped directly to their home or office. They can also maintain weight loss in the long-term through weekly consultations, customized diet plans, motivational coaches and a powerful prescription program. With Diet Doc, the doctor is only a short phone call away and a fully dedicated team of qualified professionals is available 6 days per week to answer questions, address concerns and support patients.

Getting started with Diet Doc is very simple and affordable. New patients can easily visit https://www.dietdoc.com to quickly complete a health questionnaire and schedule an immediate, free online consultation.

About the Company:

Diet Doc Weight Loss is the nation's leader in medical, weight loss offering a full line of prescription medication, doctor, nurse and nutritional coaching support. For over a decade, Diet Doc has produced a sophisticated, doctor designed weight loss program that addresses each individual specific health need to promote fast, safe and long term weight loss.

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DietDocMedical

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DietDocMedicalWeightLoss/

LinkedIn: https://www.LinkedIn.com/company/diet-doc-weight-loss?trk=biz-brand-tree-co-logo

CONTACT INFORMATION

Diet Doc Contact Information:

Providing care across the USA

Headquarters:

San Diego, CA

(800) 581-5038

Info@DietDoc.com

Homepage

Attachments:

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/29126427-ec6a-4bda-8f01-09c475293f57

Related Articles

Escondido, California, UNITED STATES

Homepage

Diet Doc Logo

LOGO URL | Copy the link below

Formats available:

Go here to see the original:
Diet Doc's MetaboDoc Prescription Accelerates Fat Burning and Speeds Up Weight Loss for Patients - GlobeNewswire (press release)

Read More..

Spring is in the air, and so are new diet plans. Everyone wants that certain body type or to get rid of a few extra pounds before its time to pull out that summer wardrobe, and there are hundreds of diets out there promising results.

Most focus on weight loss, but weight loss alone isnt always an indicator of health. And diets that call for extreme eating changes arent always healthy or palatable long-term. You may be able to eat only cabbage soup for a week, but not for the rest of your life!

Related: 10 Seriously Selfish Reasons to Be Vegan

And often the fast weight loss these diets promise is gained back just as quickly, a phenomenon thats well-documented andmay be the result of diets that are too restrictive.

It might be time for something new on the diet scene. U.S. News and World Report has released its diet rankings for 2017, and a diet youve never heard of has taken the fourthslot in the overall rankings, is thirdin heart-healthy diets, and ranks 18thin weight loss. Its called the TLC diet, and its initials stand for Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes. It doesnt sound trendy, and thats because its not.

Though weight loss is often a byproduct of the diet, it doesnt promise a supermodel body or results within a certain time frame. It was developed to combat heart disease the number-one killer of Americans by tackling high blood cholesterol with healthy lifestyle changes, but by adjusting your caloric goals you can target healthy weight loss, too.

Cut saturated fat to less than 7 percent of your calorie intake. For a 1,500-calorie diet, thats less than 10 grams of saturated fat.

Theres a lot of flexibility within the diet that allows people to eat things they enjoy. Like most effective plans for weight loss, the TLC diet involves counting calories and staying close to the range recommended for your height, weight, and activity level. You might have to get out your calculator for the first few weeks, but the guidelines are simple and quickly become habit.

Cut saturated fat to less than 7 percent of your calorie intake. For a 1,500-calorie diet, thats less than 10 grams of saturated fat, which often means less full-fat dairy and fatty meats. Trans fat, found mostly as hydrogenated oils, in products such asmargarine and packaged foods, should be avoided if at all possible and is one of very few ingredients the TLC diet tries to cut out entirely. Theres no limit on unsaturated fats, but keep in mind that foods high in fat tend to be high in calories, so keep that calorie limit in mind when choosing foods that are high in healthy fats.

Related: The Stress Fighters That Can Save Your Life

Saturated fat actually has a bigger impact on blood cholesterol levels than dietary cholesterol, but cholesterol should still be kept under 200 mg a day. Full-fat dairy products, shrimp, egg yolks, and organ meats are all high in cholesterol. These foods arent forbidden, though. A 3.5-ounce serving of shrimp contains 189 mg of cholesterol. Just ditch the cream sauce and opt for olive oil and herbs instead to stay under your cholesterol limit.

The TLC diet also recommends getting a lot of soluble fiber, at least five to 10grams a day but preferably 10to25 grams a day. While insoluble fiber passes through the digestive tract pretty much undigested (giving your colon a nice workout), soluble fiber dissolves into a substance that actually coats the walls of your intestines and keeps them from absorbing dietary fat and cholesterol. Cereal grains such asoatmeal, whole fruits, and beans are all good sources of soluble fiber.

Because of research that shows heart benefits for omega-3 fatty acids, the diet recommends two fish meals a week. It also recommends avoiding foods high in sodium and restricting alcohol intake to one drink a day for women and two a day for men.

Related: Most Americans Eat Too Much of This

The last key part of the TLC diet is an important one get 30 minutes of moderate-intensity activity most days of the week, preferably every day. Gardening, golfing (without a cart), playing tennis, biking, and brisk walking are all examples of moderate-intensity activities, and its important to pick something you enjoy. Join a group, class or club to stay motivated!

Always check with your doctor before starting a new diet, and you can check out the complete guide to the TLC diethere.

Dr. Manny Alvarez serves as Fox News Channels senior managing health editor. He also serves as chairman of the department of obstetrics/gynecology and reproductive science at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey.This Fox News article is used with permission; it first appeared on AskDrManny.com.

Read more at Fox News: Hardball Health Care Option May Cost Trump and Taxpayers Utah Man Initially Denied Lung Transplant Over Pot Use Dies After Complications, Family Says Why Your Brain Has Two Halves

View original post here:
The 'Therapeutic' Diet That's Turning Heads - LifeZette

Read More..

Not all public health experts say you must cut out diet sodas completely, however. In response to the recent Stroke study, Rachel K. Johnson, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.D., past chair of the American Heart Associations Nutrition Committee and professor of nutrition at the University of Vermont, said that limiting sugars is still important for health, and until we know more, people should use artificially-sweetened drinks cautiously.

In a statement following the Stroke study, The Calorie Council, an organization representing the diet food and beverage industry, said theres no reason to give up your diet soda habit just yet, because artificial sweeteners have been reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration and are deemed safe, and that evidence of their health impacts is still limited.

In the end, the occasional sodawith sugar or artificial sweetenersis probably fine. But your best bet the vast majority of the time, says Avitzur, is to stick with water, plain or sparkling. If you find unflavored water boring, add a splash of bitters with a slice of lemon or lime.

Link:
The Mounting Evidence Against Diet Sodas - ConsumerReports.org

Read More..

Contact Us Today

Page 1,983«..1020..1,9821,9831,9841,985..1,9902,000..»

Home » Page 1983